


Upon These Wings

by Flywolf33



Category: youtube - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Darkiplier - Freeform, F/F, Human Experimentation, I'll add more tags as i go, M/M, Mention of Suicide Attempt, Mostly an original work, Pain, Science, Tests, Weird Biology, Wings, antisepticeye, humans with wings, powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2020-06-30 05:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19846960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flywolf33/pseuds/Flywolf33
Summary: Arin had never really been particularly smart - she certainly wasn't stupid, just average really - and she was definitely naive.  She'd also elected to walk after dark with both her headphones in, listening to loud music to drown out the night.  That's really all she could remember.That and what came next.She started to cross the street when suddenly there was a flash of light, the rancid smell of burning rubber, and a sharp pain in her neck.Just like that, her life was over.Dark and Anti will show up a few chapters in, please bear with me here.  I want to make this a quality story. This is mostly an original work but I really liked the idea of Dark and Anti in this situation so here they are!AU in which Dark and Anti are the result of tests to unlock the full potential of the human brain.





	1. Accident

**Author's Note:**

> Bringing this one over from another format too because I'm actually really pleased with it. I've wanted to write something about the science behind grafting wings to human bodies for a long time and I've put a lot of thought into it. I know it still wouldn't work the way I wrote it but hey, I had fun.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Arin had never really been particularly smart - she certainly wasn't stupid, just average really - and she was definitely naive. She'd also elected to walk after dark with both her headphones in, listening to loud music to drown out the night. That's really all she could remember.

That and what came next.

She started to cross the street when suddenly there was a flash of light, the rancid smell of burning rubber, and a sharp pain in her neck. 

Just like that, her life was over.


	2. Chapter 2

Everything was a blur of lights, cold tables, and muffled voices. Sometimes they were arguing, sometimes shouting directions, and sometimes they just seemed to be conversing. I could never really tell exactly what they were saying. 

I woke up slowly, dragging my mind from thick dreams that fought to contain me.

"Here she comes," someone, a woman, said. "Arin? Arin, can you hear me?"

"That's not her name anymore," a man snapped, voice coming from the other side of me. "Don't call her that."

The first person scoffed. "I'm not going to call her Three. She's waking up for the first time; she's going to be disoriented. She's not going to answer to that."

I finally opened my eyes, blinking groggily. I was laying on my stomach on a metal table turned up at an angle so I wasn't quite _laying_ but I wasn't upright either. I could feel a band around my forehead that must have been what kept my head from dropping forward. From what I could see, the room around me was mostly covered in white tile with a few silver medical tables against the wall. I tried to lift my head more and look around me, but found it was firmly held in place. In fact, I couldn't move the rest of my body either. I couldn't really _feel_ the rest of my body.

Panic swelled inside me. 

"W-Where am I? Why can't I move? I can't feel anything!" I blurted, interrupting the bickering. My words came out slurred as I struggled to work my numb jaw.

"Arin!" A bright tie-dyed lab coat came into view from my right. It took me a moment more of blinking to focus my eyes and get a better look at the woman wearing it. She had dark skin and curly black hair that fell to her jawline. White sneakers peeked out from under dark purple slacks. 

Her face was arranged into concern and she bent over to look at my face more directly and shine a small flashlight directly into my eyes. I flinched - or at least tried to - and squinted. Rude!

"Good dilation," she muttered, glancing over her shoulder back to my right, "but the auditory system seems to be failing."

"I can hear you," I manage to get out. It felt like someone was squeezing my chest tighter and tighter by the second. I could hear a faint beeping which seemed to be picking up speed. "I can't... I can't breathe."

"She's having an anxiety reaction," another voice reported.

"That's to be expected," the woman in front of me replied before turning to look back at me. "Arin, you need to calm down. Focus on your breaths. It's okay. You're safe. We're not going to harm you."

"Who _are_ you?"

"There will be a time for answers. Focus on calming down."

I closed my eyes and forced myself to take deep breaths. As I did I became more aware of myself, and tingling feeling started to come back into my limbs. 

"There you go," she soothed, rich voice calm and steady. She stood up and looked this time to my left. "I told you this would happen if you woke her up this fast."

The male voice came again, sounding impatient. "We don't have time to wait for you to have the feel-goods. We need to move to the next step and she needs to be awake. How soon can we start?"

I swallowed. "What's going on?" I asked meekly.

The lab coat lady squatted back down so she was at a better angle for me to look at her properly. "I'm Doctor Trinity Gibson, head of the project, and this," she beckoned to my left, "is Robert Jakes, our director."

There was an irritated sigh and a tall, rather large man moved into my view but stood several feet back so I had to strain to put him in focus. He wore a black suit with a dark green tie and a scowl. His dirty-blond hair was combed neatly back. Very professional.

"What project?"

The scowl deepened. "That's classified."

"Who is she going to tell?" The doctor snapped, twisting around partially to glare at him before returning a softer gaze to me. "We're working on something called the GIRAFFE Project. Our goal is to unlock the full human potential through various means. With you we're trying something different; changing physiology."

I blinked at her. "I don't understand."

The man, Robert Jakes, let out a frustrated growl. "We're changing your body and how it works."

Doctor Gibson whipped around to reprimand the man the same time I started hyperventilating again. "W-what? You're doing _what_?"

"Pulse and respiration spiking again," the third voice warned.

The doctor turned back to me with wide eyes. "Deep breaths, Arin. Breathe deep. It's okay. Breathe deep."

"I thought you said you weren't going to hurt me!" I wailed, struggling to find some sort of control over my body. Something, _anything_ , to help me get out of here. I still was only barely gaining any sort of awareness of my limbs; I wasn't going anywhere.

A mix of consternation and guilt crossed her face. "I said we aren't going to _harm_ you," she corrected softly, "not that what we are doing won't cause you any pain."

I started sobbing halfway through her sentence. I had a _very_ low pain tolerance and I couldn't stand the sight of blood. Just getting a splinter could be equivalent to the end of the world, and I hated - _hated_ \- needles. More than anything else. 

"Please please please please please," I blubbered, begging them to let me go. "I didn't do anything, please!"

Doctor Gibson just stared at me with pity.

"I'll give her a mild sedative to calm her down-" the still unidentified voice began, but the director cut her off.

"Enough!" he shouted loud enough to shock me into silence. I tried to stare up at him, eyes almost rolling into my head with the effort. He paced forward and bent over, shoving his unpleasant face mere inches from mine. I strained to cringe away from him, but the effort caused a twinge of pain to lance down my back.

He bared his teeth. "You are here, and you are not leaving. No amount of crying or begging or screaming is going to help you. You have nowhere to go. This is your home now. To the rest of the world you're already dead. We are the only ones who care that you keep breathing, so you can either shut up and take what's coming like an adult, or you can continue to behave like a child. Either way, it's inevitable."

"Robert!" The doctor admonished. "You're going to stress her out even more! You're making our jobs harder!"

Robert James sneered at me one last time before stepping away. "I'm sure you can handle it. I want her ready tomorrow. The wings are fully grown and can only stay on the ventilator so long. We can't wait any longer." With that he disappeared to my left again and I heard the slam of a door.

"Wings?" I croaked weakly.

Doctor Gibson smiled wanly at me. "Yes. We're giving you wings."

I blinked rapidly, trying to wrap my mind around it. "W-why? How?"

She sighed. "I can't explain everything to you; the science is complex and if your grade reports are accurate, biology wasn't exactly your strong suit."

By the time I processed what she'd said enough to realize _they had my grades_ she'd moved on and I couldn't seem to make my voice work to ask. 

"I'll give you a little more information about the procedure tomorrow, but for right now you should rest. The sedatives and anesthetic need to work themselves out of your system. I have to go prepare a few other things, but if you need anything Jada will be nearby."

"Wha- but-"

But she'd already left.

"J-Jada?" I said hesitantly.

"Hm?" The other voice responded. I heard wheels on tile and a girl no older than myself rolled into view on an office chair. She also wore a lab coat, though hers was still white with the exception of a faint blue stain by her hip. A badge with her picture and the name 'Jada Webb' printed above a bar-code. Her hair was done in cornrows, which were in turn pulled into a ponytail that extended past her shoulders. Her eyes sparkled with a light that suggested she was usually of good humor, but at the moment her face was serious.

"What did she mean, work out of my system?" 

She looked at me with sympathy. "She'll explain everything tomorrow," she said. 

I sniffed. The tingling in my limbs was starting to fade, leaving a faint ache in its place. I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to resist crying again. "I'm scared."

"I'm sorry," Jada offered, but we both knew there was nothing she could do to comfort me. She sat there for a moment before pushing off back out of view to my right. "I'm staying right here, so if I can do anything just let me know."

I didn't answer, unable to nod and not trusting my voice. I could hear the scratching of a pencil occasionally interrupted by the clicking of a keyboard. I could feel her eyes on me from time to time, but neither of us said anything.

What was going to happen tomorrow?


	3. Chapter 3

I didn't know how long had passed, only that it was long and boring. I had nothing to do but sit there and notice how as time passed the ache in my body got worse, until I could say that everything hurt - especially my back, badly enough that I couldn't sleep. Jada was working on some sort of project of her own and couldn't read to me or anything like that - not like she had any sort of reading material that _wasn't_ science I can't understand, even if she would read it to me - so we sat in mostly silence. Every so often she would get up and mess with a moist towel on my back, checking under it and replacing it with a fresh one. She wouldn't tell me why it was there. 

She said I couldn't have anything to eat or drink within twenty-four hours of the procedure. I asked why and all she would tell me was it was for my own safety.

Whatever that's supposed to mean. 

Finally I heard echoing footsteps approaching from outside the door and my stomach clenched. I had been wishing for an end to the tedious boredom, but now that someone was approaching I was afraid again. What was going to happen? What exactly were they going to do to me?

"Good morning Dr. Trinity," Jada yawned. The chair squeaked and I wondered if she'd fallen asleep on her desk. 

"Good morning, Jada. How's she doing?" The doctor passed in front of me, barely glancing at me. Her demeanor was so different from the last time she was here it threw me. 

The chair wheeled and Jada came into my peripheral, watching whatever her boss was doing. "Nothing big happened. She wanted some water and she's a bit hungry. Says her back hurts," her eyes flicked in my direction.

"Everything hurts," I corrected quietly, "but my back hurts the most."

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad does your back hurt?" Dr. Trinity - I guessed she liked to go by her first name since that's what Jada called her - asked, almost sounding distracted. I heard the rustling of paper. 

"Um, 8," I decided. It was the worst pain I'd ever been in, that was for sure, but somehow I doubted it was the worst pain I'd ever be in.

"That's to be expected. Looks like the anesthetic is completely out of your system. Jada," her tone changed as she addressed the other girl, "will you go tell Dr. Hoffman we're ready to start prep? Then you can hit the dorms and get some sleep."

"It's okay, I was able to sleep a little here. I'd like to sit in, if that's okay."

A pause. "Alright, but if you feel drowsy it's best for you to excuse yourself. We can't afford any mistakes today."

A smile lit Jada's face as she jumped off the chair and ran from the room, the door clunking closed behind her.

The chair squeaked as Dr. Trinity sat in it and rolled in front of me, holding a clipboard. I couldn't read what it said. 

"I don't envy you today," she said solemnly, looking me in the eye without wavering. "I don't want to frighten you, but I do want you to be prepared for what's going to happen."

I felt tears welling in my eyes again and blinked rapidly to banish them. I swallowed.

"Through a combination of construction and growth, we've created a pair of wings specifically designed for compatibility with the human body. We've already trimmed muscle and bone to prepare for the graft. Today we're going to fully attach the wings to your body."

My chest hurt and I could hear the beeping that I now knew was a heart monitor pick up speed.

"Deep breaths," Dr. Trinity reminded me, tone not changing. "Because we have to graft the wings on in a way that your brain will read it, we need to rearrange your nerves and connect them to the new endings in the wing tissue. We have to connect each different tissue and line them up exactly right to give them the best chance to heal together correctly. If we mess this up at all, it could turn out to be a very... _unpleasant_ death for you."

My vision blurred and I could taste saltwater.

"There are a lot of risks associated with this procedure, the biggest one being your nervous system. We have to open up your spinal cord to tie directly into the brain. We need you awake so we can constantly monitor your central nervous system. We need to make sure we don't paralyze you - partially or fully - or kill you."

Was I breathing? I don't think I was breathing. Her words were just echoing around me, wrapping around me head and bleeding into my ears.

"We can't numb you for the same reason. I'm so, so sorry."

I couldn't do this. How could someone survive something like this? Why me? Why was I here? How did I end up in this position? It wasn't fair!

"I want you to know that this is going to be the worst of it. Once we're done, it's just going to be physical therapy, strength training, and testing. We've already modified the genome. After today, everything is going to be better."

I could barely hear her over the thundering in my ears.

"Arin."

My eyes focused again as she wiped the tears from my face. Her touch made me jump and forced my attention back onto her.

"You need to breathe. It's going to be okay. We're very good at our jobs. We just need to be careful. I promise you're going to be okay."

"Why are you doing this?" I choked.

Her face softened and the pity was back. "I can't explain everything to you; Robert would have my head. All I can tell you is this is could help a lot of people if it works."

"How? _Wings?_ How will _wings_ help people?"

"It's the science behind it. Our ultimate goal is the genome. We'll need to seal one final thing once your body accepts them. Think of them as the thallium we'd use to find cancer."

I sniffed. "I have no idea what that means."

Dr. Trinity sighed. "It's okay. Trust me."

It took all my strength not to scream my frustration at her. Trust her? With what she was doing to me? "I didn't ask for this," I whimpered.

"I know. I'm sorry."

She pushed the chair back and wheeled to the desk to keep flipping through papers while I silently cried.

Not long after, the door opened and the sound a cart being wheeled in met my ears. I could hear voices echoing down the hall as a large group of people headed this way. Jada darted in front of me again, going to perch on a tall metal stool against the wall at the edge of my vision.

"Good morning doctor," a deep but chipper voice greeted. 

"Dr. Hoffman," came the polite reply. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be. I wish Robert would relax a little; these things can't be rushed you know."

"I keep trying to tell him that. He's right about one thing though; the wings have been ready for a week and we can't keep them forever."

Their conversation was punctuated by the tinkling of metal on metal as the new doctor likely rearranged tools of some sort. My anxiety worsened.

More people entered, stopping them from continuing. Lab coats swirled around me as everyone prepared for this 'procedure', acting like this was as normal as taking out an appendix. Even so, a low kind of excitement buzzed in the air. Jada was all but bouncing on her stool, leaning forward and watching everything with eager eyes. 

I closed my eyes as I felt gentle hands remove the moist towel from my open back and chilly air caused me to shudder. I vaguely heard someone start talking into a log and I began breathing faster.

"Deep breaths," Trinity's rich voice cut through the haze, and then the screaming started.

I was pretty sure it was me. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mirror wall lined two adjacent sides of the room, allowing me to get a good look at myself for the first time since I'd ended up here. My black hair had been cut short - very short - and stuck up in odd places, due no doubt to how greasy it was at the moment. I'd lost a lot of weight and my skin looked drawn and almost grey. 
> 
> The biggest change, obviously, were the two hulking wings rising behind me. Their tops rose a little over my head and the longest feathers dragged on the ground. They were as black as my hair, though I could see white spots dotting them.

I was alone in the room for the first time in what felt like years. I knew that couldn't be the case; there was no way they would have been able to keep up constant surgery - torture? - that long. Every time I would pass out, they stopped and waiting until they could bring me back into consciousness and get me to focus. It's like they were trying to make me suffer for as long as possible.

Thirty-six hours. That's what Trinity said once they finished. They had all the logs done, all the paperwork signed, all the cutting and burning and shifting things that were never meant to be touched was done. They had to leave most of it open to make sure it started healing correctly, so there was still a damp towel packed with antiseptics draped over me, as well as a warm blanket to cover my newest appendages. 

They'd put pumps in place to help push my blood into them and had a transfusion going to fill the space that the wings now needed. Turned out it was my own blood too; they'd taken it from the donation hospital a few weeks prior just for this use.

Which meant they'd been planning to take _me_ for some time. Trinity confirmed this by explaining they'd constructed the wings with my own tissue, grown from a sample they'd obtained through a biopsy performed almost two years ago when we thought I might have cancer. Turned out I didn't.

They wouldn't tell me how they got these things. They also wouldn't tell me _why me_.

I was left now to cry quietly by myself. Everything hurt, but the ache in my original limbs was nearly drowned by the searing of my entire back and the foreign burning of the two very large feathered wings now sprouting from my back and draped over several stands to either side of me. I could tell they were stretched out, and if I focused I could move them a little, but the blankets on them were too heavy and the pain in my freshly sliced back muscles too great.

They told me not to move them for risk of reopening the sealed wounds anyway.

It wasn't long before Jada appeared, carrying a large tray. She wheeled the chair over in front of me and offered me soup. I felt sick to my stomach after everything, but I didn't know when I'd eaten last so I accepted. She offered to either spoon it for me or allow me to sip it through a straw. It was basic chicken noodle soup so the important parts wouldn't get through the straw and despite how humiliating it was I allowed her to feed me.

"Why are you here?" I asked between bites, starting to feel a little better. The soup helped warm me more than the blankets. 

Her brow furrowed. "I'm... I'm here to feed you..." She offered another spoonful in example.

I meant to shake my head, but it merely wiggled a little in it's hold so I had to swallow. "No, I mean _here_. In this place. Doing things like _this_."

Her mouth formed a little 'o' as she fed me again. "I'm a student," she explained. "I got an internship and thanks to my grades they sent me here. It's the coolest project I've ever worked on!"

I stared at her and her cheeks darkened a little. She had the decency to look abashed. "I'm sorry, I know this sucks for you. If you could understand the science behind it... If this works, we could cure things like cancer and aids, or genetic diseases like cycle cell and diabetes. We could change everything."

"That all sounds fine and dandy but-" I stopped as she offered another spoon. I swallowed and continued. "It's little consolation for me right now."

She gave me a sympathetic smile. "I can't even pretend to imagine what this is like for you. We all had to go through special training in anticipation for this... not just the procedure, mind you. Everyone has at least an hour with Psych this week, even the ones who have a little more experience with things like this."

I blinked. "How can you have _experience_ with this? Are there more winged-people here?" Resentment tinged my words. 

Jada shook her head, scraping the bowl for one last spoonful. "I know there are two other experiments - that's why they call you 'Three' - but I've not been allowed to meet either of them."

"Why?"

Jada set the bowl aside and picked up a glass of water with a straw, shrugging as she guided it to my mouth. I never thought I would love water as much as I did in that moment.

"Is something wrong with them?"

"I don't know. From what little they'll tell me about them, they're both in the training phase, but they have limited handler contact and mostly just spend time with each other."

I felt envy well in my gut. Here I was, strapped motionless to a table, and somewhere out there were two others who knew what I was going through and were allowed to spend time on their own together.

My caretaker must have seen this on my face because she took the now-empty glass away and frowned. "You'll get to meet them eventually. If the genome changed was successful, it'll only take a few days to get you up and moving around." She offered me an encouraging smile.

"It took me weeks to really start moving around when I had my appendix out." I said glumly, before fully realizing what she'd said. "Genome change?"

Her smile brightened. "Isn't it cool? We changed your very DNA! If it worked, you'll be stronger, faster, smarter, and heal quicker and more efficiently too!"

"What?" It was more of a statement than a question, but at this point so many crazy things had happened I was starting to think I was in some sort of coma dream.

"You'll understand more when you notice the change. We'll start to see if it's working or not probably tomorrow, depending on how far along you've come in the healing process."

Jada was interrupted by three sharp beeps coming from her waist. She fished a small pager - who uses pagers anymore? - from inside her lab coat pocket.

"I need to go, but someone will be back to check on you in a little bit," She smiled again. "Try to get some sleep. It'll all be better soon."

With that, she was gone. 

\----

Various doctors took turns checking on me every few hours and helping me either eat or go to the bathroom. It was all very gross, violating, and humiliating. Jada stopped by as often as she could as long as she could, which I really appreciated because she was the only one here my age and the only one who seemed to care. The Robert guy in a suit came by once while Doctor Trinity was in and they talked about me as if I wasn't there, ignoring me when I tried to get their attention. It was probably for the best; that Robert guy scared me and I got a creepy vibe off him. I _really_ didn't want to be alone in a room with him.

By the next day my back didn't hurt as much, and the day after that they were unpacking my back (which hurt) and stitching me up (which hurt even more). Within three days they'd unstrapped my head and allowed me to wiggle a little. Moving hurt a _lot_ , which they attributed to being still for so long. 

On day number four Jada, Dr. Trinity, and Dr. Hoffman helped me to stand. Jada hung a long strip of soft fabric around my head. It hung to my knees on both sides, and each side had two long strips off either side, which she and Dr. Trinity tied around my waist to keep the soft cotton from sliding around. It was the first time I didn't feel fully exposed. They also gave me a pair of matching white cotton pants.

Dr. Hoffman, a friendly man with a good sense of humor, mostly watched my wings and helped make sure I didn't knock anything over flexing them. They needed to support me for a few minutes while I found the strength in my legs and struggled not to topple backwards. The wings were very heavy.

They assisted me down the hall - also white marble - and into a much larger, empty room. A mirror wall lined two adjacent sides of the room, allowing me to get a good look at myself for the first time since I'd ended up here. My black hair had been cut short - _very_ short - and stuck up in odd places, due no doubt to how greasy it was at the moment. I'd lost a lot of weight and my skin looked drawn and almost grey. 

The biggest change, obviously, were the two _hulking_ wings rising behind me. Their tops rose a little over my head and the longest feathers dragged on the ground. They were as black as my hair, though I could see white spots dotting them. 

"Okay, try to spread your wings as much as you can." Dr. Hoffman told me, stepping back with a clipboard he'd grabbed from the wall just beside the door.

I tore my eyes from the mirror to look at me feet while focusing on the new muscles I'd been trying to adjust to the last several days. The strain caused my back to ache and I grunted slightly, but I was able to raise and unfurl them. The movement in the mirror drew my eyes again and I gasped. My wingspan had to be at least fifteen feet, and I couldn't even stretch them all the way out yet. There were more white spots than I originally thought, but they were still predominantly black.

"Excellent!" Both doctors exclaimed as I lowered them again, allowing them to sag on the ground and panting from the exertion. Jada patted my shoulder, beaming at me. "Told you it would get better," she said quietly.

They asked me to do a few other things before taking me into another room around the same size with a large bed, a toilet and sink, a bathtub, full body mirror, and small table with a cabinet under it. "This is your new room," Dr. Trinity explained. "There are some clothes in the closet for you - all of them will work the same what you're currently wearing does - and some snacks in the cabinet. Starting tomorrow, either Dr. Hoffman or myself will direct you in physical therapy to help you recover your strength and adjust to the addition to your body."

I nodded, glad that at least I had some sort of autonomy, superficial as it was. "What about Jada?"

The girl glanced at her teacher.

"She'll be here most of the time. You're her official project, so she's going to be involved in everything else going forward."

I couldn't help but smile. Jada was the only thing I had resembling a friend now.

The three bid me a good night and left. A loud click followed them and I tested the door - locked. Not that I could have left if I wanted to; I barely had the strength to cross the room to the bed, let alone hoof it to wherever the closest police station was. What a scene that would cause - a sickly, winged twenty-one-year-old bursting into the precinct crying kidnapped.

Oh yeah, dead too.

I sighed and tried to arrange myself in a comfortable position. Sleeping with the wings without being strapped down was going to be weird; they were large and cumbersome and I barely had any sort of control over them.

I had to admit, though, they weren't _that_ bad. I couldn't stop running my hands over them. It tickled, but it also felt kind of nice. They were soft. I rolled over onto one, which hurt a little, but the pain quickly faded. It was soft and held my weight well. I curled the other one over me like a blanket and was surprised by how warm I was without blankets. Using my arm as a pillow, I quickly fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got a rather upset text from my coworker today demanding to know where the rest of this fic is... so here's the next bit, long overdue. 
> 
> You're welcome, L. :D

They settled me into a routine.

Wake up. Take a sponge bath, but be careful not to reopen any of the sutures or get the feathers too wet - I'd get help with those later. 

Jada and a physical therapist would take me to a sort of modified gym to regain my original strength. After lunch Doctors Trinity and Hoffman would join us to observe my wings while a man who'd originally had a career in raptor rehabilitation would work with training my wings.

In the evenings Jada and the wildlife guy - Johnathan - would help me wash my wings. I needed help to reach some of the back spaces until I built enough strength and flexibility in them to be able to reach on my own. 

I progressed a lot faster than I expected, and everyone seemed to be incredibly pleased. Within a couple of weeks of moving to my own room I was able to move around reliably on my own, though I still tired quickly. I'd figured out a new center of gravity so I could hold my balance better, especially when I had to hold my wings up. They were long enough to drag on the ground and I found the feeling of being dirty incredibly uncomfortable. 

Around the two month mark they began a new training for me. I was led into a large, round room that looked to go up several stories. I knew what it was immediately; a wind chamber. I had a vague memory of visiting one with school for indoor "sky diving".

They were going to teach me how to fly.

It was slow at first; just hovering, using the warm air to lift a few feet off the ground. At first the feeling was terrifying, that sensation of trusting yourself to invisible molecules that make up the atmosphere. I quickly got used to it and found I thoroughly enjoyed the freedom of it - even though I was still confined to a basement lab. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen real sunlight, and the bright beams they used to illuminate the chamber were the closest I’d gotten since coming here.

Flying practice meant I was sore pretty much 100% of the time, but I was advancing quickly. Time blurred together and I was no longer scratching lines on the wall so I was wasn’t sure how long it took, but before I knew it I could get myself off the ground without an updraft and fly to the top of the chamber on my own. They started timing me, wanting me to reach the ceiling faster and stay there longer.

I enjoyed pushing myself, but before long I was growing bored of the same thing day after day. Flying wasn't as fun as it had been before. It was almost... Easy. I could barely remember a time without my wings. It was like I was born to have them.

"I'm so jealous," Jada said one day as I landed after holding at the top for ten minutes and not feeling even a little winded. "I've always wanted to fly."

I shot a glance at the doctors standing several feet away, all fussing over their clipboards. "Wanna try something?" I whispered, grinning.

Jada licked her lips, eyes also darting nervously toward our babysitters before leaning in close. "What?"

My grin grew and I beckoned her into the chamber. She blinked. "Are you sure you can lift me?"

I shrugged. "We'll find out."

She smiled, though clearly apprehensive as she snuck out to join me, glancing back at her teachers one more time before I walked around behind her and wrapped my arms around her chest, just under her armpits. "Jump when I say," I murmured, heart pounding with excitement and nerves.

She nodded.

I flared my wings, bent my legs, and said, "Jump."

We kicked off at the same time and I brought my wings down. There was a lot more resistance this time and I struggled for a moment to keep us up.

"No wait!" I heard Dr. Trinity shout. The doctors had all looked up and were now rushing to the chamber.

I pushed harder, taking us all the way up. Jada was giggling like she was a little girl. Her hands were clenching almost painfully around my arms, but all the better to not drop her fifty feet.

I held her at the top, wings beginning to burn after only a few minutes so I drifted to the edge to begin a spiral down. I landed as softly as I could so I didn't hurt her legs.

The moment I was on the ground we were swarmed by concerned doctors. They pulled Jada away and furiously looked me over while scolding my recless behavior. My proud smile faded. "But... I thought I was supposed to get stronger," I said meekly when they finally quieted enough for me to be heard.

"She's ready," another voice said from the hallway. We all turned to see Robert Jakes standing in the doorway to the air chamber. He'd only showed up to watch me a couple of times but it would figure he'd come around just in time to see me misbehave.

Dr. Trinity immediately looked apprehensive. "I don't..." She trailed off without finishing her sentence.

"Ready for what?" I asked, looking between them with growing concern. Jada, who looked about to cry, seemed to share my confusion.

"Come with me," Robert commanded, and after receiving a nod from Dr. Trinity I complied.

"Where are we going?" I asked again, but he didn't answer. We went up several flights of stairs - a first for me; I hadn't even seen them before - and down another long hallway. We stopped in front of a set of double doors, the first things not made of metal or tile I'd seen in the building. This floor looked like something you'd see in a normal office building.

Robert entered a code I couldn't see into a pad to the left of the doors. It was answered by the click of a lock and we were able to enter. I hesitantly followed him, jumping a little when I heard the door lock behind us again. It was dark, but I could tell we were between two sets of doors. He entered a code again and the next set opened.

Light streamed in - sunlight. My eyes widened as I entered the new room. It was clearly an apartment of some kind with a rather nice kitchen area to the left and vaulted ceilings. The entire back wall was made of glass, looking out into a lush garden space.

After blinking in the abrupt assault of color I noticed two men in a nicely furnished living space that took up the rest of the spacious room we were in.

Richard spoke before any of us could say anything. "Three, these are the other subjects, Dark and Anti."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The moment you've all been waiting for: Dark and Anti at last!
> 
> I take some of my inspiration for Anti's powers from Cartoon Junkie's art; be sure to check them out on Deviant Art or Tumblr!

The first thing I noticed about them was that they seemed to be opposites. One of the men was lounging back on the couch. He was skinny, a look made more drastic by the loose pants, t-shirt, and black jacket. He wore what almost looked like a dog collar snugly around his neck and had black gauges in his ears. The top of his head was dyed a bright green that matched the color of one of his eyes. The other was bright, crystalline blue. 

The other man was standing and looked incredibly... professional. He was tall and muscular with broad shoulders, filling his suit nicely. His black hair fell into his face, but only a little. His skin was a little darker than the other, who was very pale. 

"Gentlemen, this is Three," Robert continued. I gave him a confused glance. Why did they get names and I just got a number?

The darker man straitened his suit jacket before striding across the room to offer me his hand. "Good to meet you, Three," he inclined his head slightly, eyes flicking up and down my body briefly. I was used to this when meeting new people by now, but there was something about his almost-black eyes that made me suppress a shudder. They seemed... dead, in a way, yet had an intelligent spark behind them that gave me the impression he was not what he seemed. "I'm Dark," he finished.

He glanced over his shoulder at the other man - Anti, I guessed - who rolled his eyes with an exaggerated sigh and dragged himself off the couch to saunter over and meet me. He was very twitchy and when he shook my hand it almost looked like he _glitched_. There was no other way to describe it.

"I'll let you three get to know each other. Three, I'll be back for you in an hour." Robert turned and walked back through the doors we'd come through, once again entering a short code and vanishing behind the click of a lock before I could even protest being left alone with two strange men I found rather intimidating. 

I swallowed and slowly faced them again. "Hi," I said sheepishly. "My name's Arin."

Dark arched an eyebrow while Anti simply giggled. It was a decidedly creepy noise. 

"You don't get a name yet," Anti said, almost taunting as his laughter caused his twitching to get worse. I flinched away from him slightly as his form blurred and flickered again.

"You're glitching," Dark told him flatly before beckoning me to follow him to the kitchen. 

I hesitantly did so, wings shifting so they curled around my arms a little.

Dark glanced at me as he walked around the counter. "There's no need to be nervous. We're not going to hurt you."

"Yeah, they're watching us," Anti snickered, following us. I turned slightly so I could keep both men in my field of vision. While I felt the smaller man was a more immediate threat, I knew Dark was more dangerous than he appeared and letting my guard down would not be a good idea.

Dark stared at his counterpart for a moment before discretely placing a small black object on the counter before rummaging around, collecting various ingredients and beginning to make tea. Anti flinched slightly, grin fading with a grumble. He jumped onto a bar stool and balanced on his feet with his knees to his chest, perching like a bird. 

"We wouldn't hurt you anyway," Dark assured me with irritation in his voice. "You're one of us."

"One of you?" I cautiously sat on one of the stools, which was thankfully backless so I could comfortably drape my wings behind me. 

Anti scowled into space. "A _casualty_ ," he growled. I blinked at him. How could a human throat make such a feral sound?

I think Dark could tell I was confused, so as he continued making tea he began explaining. "Each of us has some sort of value to these people. We're experiments. Anti was the first," he glanced at the green-haired man, who was “glitching” again. "There were... _complications_."

"So it didn't work?"

Anti once again broke into a fit of giggles which only made him glitch more. "It worked just _fine_ ," he sneered. "I'm strong- stronger, faster, bet- better in every way!" His body's flickering was now affecting his words, but it didn't stop him from leaning towards me with a glint in his eyes. "They're all weak! I co- could-"

His body suddenly spasmed and he toppled off the stool. I jumped, surprised by the sudden movement. He glared at Dark, who simply stared back and casually placed the black object - no, _remote_ \- back on the counter before returning to his task. "Settle down," he warned.

"So..." I dragged my eyes away from the floorbound man as he slowly got up. "He wasn't always..." I licked my lips, afraid to say the word _crazy_ and turn the smaller man's wrath upon myself.

I didn't have to. A small smirk crossed Dark's face and he finished my sentence for me. "A _glitch bitch_?"

Anti snarled - actually _snarled -_ and flung himself off the ground, looking for a moment like he was going to come after Dark over the counter. The taller man's hand hovered over the remote and Anti glitched back into place, hissing softly.

"That's better. Sit down."

Anti obeyed, giggles occasionally punctuating his silence like hiccups.

I was leaned away from him in my seat, eyes wide and breathing rapidly. 

"Yes, it worked," Dark said as though nothing of import had happened. "But there were side effects, obviously. They were trying to give him the ability to manipulate shadows and in doing so they damaged his physical body."

My face scrunched. Wings were at least plausible, but controlling shadows? What the hell kind of far-fetched dream was that?

Wait. "So is he... are you... stronger? Like me?" I didn't want to offend him by talking around him.

The laughter came again, but this time it was less crazed and deeper. The light in the room seemed to dim slightly and shadowy arms began to rise from Anti's back like tentacles. I felt something on my chest and looked down, horrified to see the dark form of a hand creeping up my torso and settling around my throat. I whimpered.

"Anti," Dark snapped before the shadow-hand could tighten its grip. At his voice the room was suddenly back to normal and I was left gasping, heart hammering in my chest as I fought to prevent tears from welling in my eyes. "Behave."

"She asked," he mumbled in response, resuming his perch. 

The teapot whistled and Dark turned to pour the water into the mugs. While his back was turned Anti glanced between him, the tiny remote, me, and back to the remote. His hand moved across the counter to take it, eyes flicking back to me as if daring me to either say something or stop him. I was too petrified to do anything.

Dark's hand was suddenly wrapped around his counterpart's wrist, halting it in its tracks. "I don't think so," he said without looking up from what he was doing though his body was twisted sideways.

Anti winced and tugged on his wrist, but Dark didn't release him until he'd finished dropping the tea bags into their respective mugs and needed both hands to move them to this counter. The smaller man rubbed the spot he'd been held, body flickering.

"What about you?" I asked, hesitantly accepting the tea. It smelled nice... soothing.

"Obviously I'm number two," Dark replied, offering me some honey for my tea, which I accepted. "They wanted to give me the ability to manipulate the psyche." 

I sipped my tea experimentally and burned my lips. "Did it work?" I asked as I winced. At least I had advanced healing so they wouldn't hurt forever. 

The taller man returned the remote to his pocket and came around the counter again, signaling for us to follow him back to the couches. "To an extent."

I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. I didn't want to push it. "What about me? As far as I know they just gave me wings."

Dark nodded. "That was their goal with you. Nothing metaphysical. So far it's working."

"What do you mean, 'so far'?" I shuffled my wings a bit to hang over the couch's armrest so I could sit comfortably. 

"You haven't _failed_ ," Anti hissed, fondling his cup absentmindedly as he stared at me. "You're _perfect_."

My mouth opened and closed like a fish for a moment.

"You haven't gone crazy," Dark amended, placing his tea on the side table long enough to straighten his suit before leaning back into the recliner he'd chosen.

"But you..." I said quietly, trailing off.

He smiled slightly as he sipped at his drink, keeping eye contact with me as Anti started fell into a fit of hysteria. "He's ju-just as mes-messed up as I am," he managed. 

I finally broke the eye contact to look down at my tea with a combination of suspicion and horror.

The taller man let out a dark chuckle. "I wouldn't poison you. You're one of us."

I swallowed. "Do you think I..."

Dark shrugged. "It's likely."

The panic rose in my chest and I was suddenly struggling to breathe. My vision blurred as I curled forward, clutching the warm tea to my chest and tightening my wings around me the best I could over the couch arm.

"Hey," Dark's voice cut through the rising fog and everything stilled. "It's going to be okay."

My pulse began to slow and my throat gradually opened to allow air access to my lungs.

"We do alright; you'll be okay."

My body relaxed again as I blinked away the tears obscuring my vision. Both men were staring at me. Their faces were difficult to read, but I thought I saw concern and... pity, maybe? Contempt? Who knows.

"Did you just... did you just use your... power... on me?" I asked Dark.

Anti snickered as Dark smirked. "A bit."

"When did you _start_ using them?"

An amused twinkle lit his eyes. "The moment you walked in."

Anti giggled.

"Did you..." I hesitated. "Did you make me have a panic attack?"

"No," he sipped his tea again, "you did that on your own."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself and relax on my own. "Well... thank you for stopping it."

His head twitched in what I could only assume was an acknowledgement since I didn't get anything else.

We sat in silence for a while drinking our tea. 

"Do you remember your life before all of this?" I broke the silence. 

The two men shared a look. Anti shook his head, causing his body to blur. 

Dark set his empty mug down and straightened his suit. I was starting to think it was some kind of tick. "All I know is that I was a doctor of some sort. They burned everything else."

"Burned?"

"They erased the memories they didn't find relevant to what they wanted from me."

My brow furrowed. "Why did they want you to remember being a doctor?"

He glanced back at Anti, who for once was still, staring into the remaining bit of his tea without expression. It was clear he was trying to ignore us, but after a stretch of silence he looked up at Dark. Something seemed to pass between them and Anti's shoulders dropped - just a bit. He slowly reached up to his neck, avoiding eye contact as he slowly tugged the black collar down just enough to show a long, thick red scar running across his entire throat. My eyes widened and he let the material snap back into place.

"What hahhh...." the question died in my throat. Based on the quelling look Dark was now giving me and Anti's reaction to my original question, I had a good guess. I swallowed and swished the now-cold dregs of tea in my cup.

"What do you remember?" 

I pursed my lips. "Not much... just bits and pieces. Mostly things I did outside."

Dark nodded. "I can't imagine there would be much they would need you to know."

I scowled at him, causing Anti to return to his normal giggling self. "There she is!"

"What?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it," Dark said.

We fell back into silence. It wasn't long before Robert returned to collect me. I gave my mug back, thanked them for the tea, and followed the project head out of the room. "See you soon," Anti called in a rasp as he glitched and fell into giggles.

I gave them a half wave before the door shut them out of view.


	7. Chapter 7

My life changed once again. Now I would spend a few hours in the apartment with Anti and Dark every couple of days. I found I didn’t mind so much after the first couple of times. They never did anything to make me overly uncomfortable, and Dark promised he wasn’t using his ability on me beyond trying to help me relax the first day. Anti settled too. Dark told me he’d just been in a mood during our first meeting and was trying to impress me – or something along those lines.

They gave me a tour of the place, which wasn’t much beyond the main room. Their two bedrooms split off the upper level, which had an open hallway overlooking the livingroom and kitchen as a balcony of sorts. They didn’t offer to let me see either of the rooms, which I was absolutely fine with. There’s not much privacy here and I imagine they wanted as much as they could get.

There were two bathrooms; one just through the kitchen, and one upstairs. I noticed there were three more doors off the balcony-hallway, but neither of them had access or knew where they led.

We started spending time in the garden, which had high walls and a glass dome over the top of it. Even so, it was a lovely place. Vines growing up the walls were a backdrop to trees and tall shrubs, giving the illusion that it was a piece of paradise in a forest instead of confinement within stone and glass.

I was surprised to find I actually enjoyed their company and looked forward to our meetings for the sake of socialization. I’d only seen Jada a handful of times after the wind tunnel incident. I was of course greatly saddened by this development but I wasn’t sure how to ask if I could see her more without getting both of us in trouble. She was supposed to be an impartial researcher, after all. For all I knew it had been her decision to see me less.

Unfortunately, this meant I saw more of Robert. He still unsettled me; if anything, I was even more on edge the longer he was in the vicinity. There was something about the way he watched me. The doctors all looked at me like a chemist would watch their chemicals bubble away in a test tube. Robert looked at me with… loathing, maybe? He looked like he was sizing me up for a fight.

I mentioned this to Dark, trying to be casual. He and Anti both glanced towards the building. “We’ll not discuss it now,” he said quietly. His tone left no room for argument. I swallowed and nodded, following their glance to where tiny black cameras dotted the wall outside the sliding glass doors. They were always watching.

Coincidentally, Dark started teaching me basic self defense a few meetings after that. I didn’t say anything about it, and he didn’t explain beyond stating it was a good form of exercise that worked more than just my wings. None of the staff ever said anything about it so either they didn’t care of they hadn’t noticed. If it was the latter it meant they weren’t constantly monitoring the garden.

After a particularly difficult session of flight exercises – they were having me do more complex maneuvers in an enclosed outdoor arena – I wasn’t returned to my usual room. “Where are we going?” I asked the attendant escorting me that day.

“You’ve been moved,” he said.

“Moved where?”

“To main living. You’ve passed your recent medical exams and have fully recovered from the procedure. You don’t need to live on the lab floor.”

We stepped out of the elevator on a floor I’d never seen. The hallway was like something you’d see in a hotel, complete with chairs in the corner and a row of doors with numbers on them. There were keypads just to the side of each doorjamb. I stared with wide eyes as he led me around the far corner, stopping at a door halfway down. A gold 33 adorned it with a peephole just underneath. I realized it was backwards; instead of the occupant being able to look out, an observer in the hallway would be able to look in.

There was a beep and a click as the attendant typed the code while I was busy being disgruntled by the notion of being spied on – cameras were one thing but this seemed more personal – and the door swung open. “Welcome home,” he said, beckoning me in. I clicked on the light as I entered and was surprised to see a rather lush accommodation. It was quite the opposite of what I was used to. The walls were a gentle blue, not dissimilar to the color of the sky. The carpet was a plain brown but it brought out the accents in the bedspread, which was mostly dark green. A plush reading chair was tucked into the corner with a small table between it and the bed. There was a three-shelf bookshelf on the wall to my left with a few paperbacks already on it. The closet doors, which were on the wall opposite the bed, were full-length mirrors.

The door behind me clicked as it was shut, making me jump. I stared at it for a second before wandering further in. I thought it was very homely.

A second door stood opposite the one I’d just come through and thinking it was a bathroom I opened it. I was pretty sweaty after spending most the day flying and wanted a shower.

Instead I found myself looking down into Dark and Anti’s living room.

“Good evening.”

I turned to see Dark coming out of his room two doors down. “Um, hi.”

“I was wondering when they’d move you in,” he said casually, making his way to the stairs and heading for the kitchen.

I followed. “You knew they’d bring me up here?”

“Of course. That’s why they had you meeting with us. They needed to make sure we’d all get along.” He peered into the oven, which I realized was on.

“What’s for dinner?”

“Tuna casserole,” Anti said from behind me. “When did _you_ arrive?”

I startled, but quickly got over it. “Just now.”

“They’ve officially moved her in,” Dark explained. He glanced at me as he stood back up. “Shower’s in the upstairs bathroom.”

I pursed my lips. “Are you telling me I stink?”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “A little.”

I conceded and headed back up the stairs, peeking in my room for a towel, which I found on the top shelf of the closet.

“Um, there’s no lock,” I called.

“Of course there isn’t. They need to be able to get anywhere they want, whenever they want,” came Dark’s exasperated reply. “We know you’re in there. We won’t come in.”

I nodded, though I was still mildly uncomfortable. Even so, they’d never given me any indication either one of them was attracted to me so I probably had nothing to worry about.

I was pleased to find a rainhead fixture in the shower, which had enough room for me to stretch my wings out a little. It was much easier to wash them without getting them completely soaked with this style of shower, as opposed to the lab showers which were cramped with standard shower heads. I relished in the hot water, humming quietly as my muscles relaxed.

I took my time preening my wings. The sensation of having them thoroughly cleaned was incredible and when I finally finished and stepped out of the shower I was the most relaxed I’d been since coming here. When I went to bed after dinner I sank into the mattress with a sigh. It was worlds away from the old spring bed I’d had in the basement. I fell asleep quickly.

Maybe things here weren’t so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry once again for the slow update. I need to fully plot out the rest of this, and this is up to where I've written in advance so the next chapters will probably be a little slower to come while I adjust to my new schedule. Thank you for your patience! 
> 
> As always, come visit me on [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/flywolfwriting) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/heather_wolffe)!


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